


The Night Before Christmas

by notgeorgelucas



Category: Eureka (TV)
Genre: BARBIES, Christmas Eve, Gen, Some Assembly Required
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-06
Updated: 2017-12-06
Packaged: 2019-02-11 05:31:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12928536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notgeorgelucas/pseuds/notgeorgelucas
Summary: Jack and Nathan face their most daunting challenge yet--and it's "Some Assembly Required".





	The Night Before Christmas

~~~~

The tree was trimmed, its ornaments glittering in the multicolored lights. The stockings were hung over the fireplace. Presents were retrieved from Carter’s Jeep (even at four, Jenna was a crafty and inquisitive kid) and positioned under the tree. Milk and cookies were waiting on a small table. The wine was poured and ready for the traditional toast. The turkey was brining away in the refrigerator and the ham securely tucked away (except for the piece or two that Carter had managed to filch before getting caught ham-handed). At long last the Blake/Carter/Stark household was ready for Christmas.

“To another year,” Allison announced. Her men nodded and clinked their glasses against hers.

“Well,” Nathan Stark said through a long yawn, “I’d stay we’re all set. Let’s head to bed.”

“Not so fast,” Allison warned. “There’s one more thing that we need to take care of.”

“Ally,” Stark said with a longsuffering sigh. “I already talked to Fargo.  We can’t make it snow.”

“Very funny. There’s one more present in the garage. You two need to get it in here and put it together so it’s ready for Jenna when she gets up.”

“It takes both of us?” Carter asked, slightly incredulous. “What did you get her, a do-it-yourself pony?”

“Can’t be,” Stark replied. “I’ve got some people working on that for her birthday.”

“Just bring it in and set it up,” Allison ordered. “I’m going up to bed.” She headed up the stairs, pausing midway to turn and dazzle the two men with her smile. “Don’t take too long, guys.”

“You know,” Carter said quickly, “it’s probably nothing you can’t handle yourself, so why don’t I leave you to it and…”

“Nice try, Carter,” Stark said, blocking the path upstairs. “Let’s go drag this thing in and assemble it. The sooner we start, the sooner we can go to bed.”

***

“Oh, you gotta be kidding me,” Carter said ten muscle-wracking minutes later. “’Barbie’s Cyclotron Lab’? Where did she get this?”

“You’ve got me,” Stark said, wiping his hands with a rag. “Ally has resources we can only dream about. Let’s get the box open.” He grabbed his Leatherman tool and carefully sliced the top off. “I can’t see this taking more than ten minutes, Carter.  I mean, I’ve seen the Barbie stuff in the stores. It all looks fairly simple…”

“Here’s the…instruction…packet…” Carter fished a huge sheaf of bound papers from within. “Holy cow.” In the meantime Stark was pulling plastic sections out, one after another with no apparent end in sight. After the eighth grouping, he looked up at Carter and shook his head. “I thought these things were designed to scale,” he said.

“Stark,” Carter said faintly as he thumbed through the pages. “The instructions come in seven languages.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“I haven’t hit ‘English’ yet.”

“Oh, come on, Carter. I’m a Nobel Prize winner, and you’re…you. “  Carter glared at him. Stark hurriedly added, “You’re an experienced hand at all this stuff with Zoe and all. Between the two of us, this should be a breeze. How difficult can it be?”

***

Twenty minutes later, Stark rose to his feet. “Where are you going?” demanded Carter.

“To my office. I’m grabbing the Jack Daniels . If you think I’m putting this thing together sober, you’ve got another think coming.”

***

“Okay, what’s next?” Stark asked. A major portion of the cyclotron display rested precariously in his hands.

Carter studied the diagram. “You need piece 847-L from section SS2.”

“Of course I do,” Stark nodded as he looked around the pile of plastic all around him. “You know, I’m beginning to really hate the color pink…what the hell?”

“What?” Carter asked, glancing up.

“Look at this.” How Stark was managing to keep the semi-assembled cyclotron in place with his knees while rummaging for section SS2, Carter would never know. “What the hell is Barbie doing with a cat? A pink cat, no less?”

“It’s Barbie. You get used to it.” Carter reached over to his far right and handed Stark the section in question.

“This is setting a bad precedent for children,” Stark continued as he wriggled piece 847-L loose. “I mean, at the very least it should be made clear that animals are not allowed in labs except when being used for experimentation.”

“Stark, it’s make-believe,” Carter said in exasperation.

“Why can’t make-believe also serve as a valuable lesson in laboratory safety, that’s all I’m saying.”

“Says the man who used a ruler when he placed the lights around the Christmas tree, to make sure they were all equidistant.”

“I wanted the tree to look right. It’s configured for the maximum illumination benefit under these conditions…”

“You went through the strings twice to make sure they all followed the blue-red-green pattern!”

“I wanted it to be right, Carter. For Jenna.”

“Gimme the Jack Daniels.”

“Not until you apologize.”

“STARK!”

“Okay, okay.  Here you go.  Now, where should I put this piece?”

Carter managed to hold the reply back, but it was a struggle all the way.

***

“God,” Stark moaned as he carefully set the just assembled Cray Computer System aside. “What time is it?”

Carter consulted his watch, but the numbers were too blurry. “It’s time,” he said, slowly rising to his feet, “to go use the bathroom.” He carefully picked a path around the remains of the assembly sections, but unfortunately his right foot came down on previously-missing piece 223 from section AA. Carter hopped around furiously, a long profane bellow emerging from his mouth. “AGHH! SONOFA…”

“Shhhhh!” Stark hissed. “You’ll wake up Jenna!”

“Godda…  Jesu… Man!”  Carter continued in a much more subdued if no less intense voice. When the pain had subsided enough to render normal communication possible, he looked down at the utter mess before him and made a decision. “That’s it. We’ll never get it done at this rate. I’m making a call.”

“At…” Stark squinted at the wall clock. “Two-thirty in the morning? Who in the hell would you be bothering at this hour?”

“The one person who can get this thing fixed right.” Carter heard a click on the other end. “Andy? It’s me. I need your help…”

***

“There you go, gentlemen,” Deputy Andy said an hour later. Barbie’s Cyclotron Lab was completely assembled and ‘operational’. “I bet Jenna will love it the minute she sees it in…” He tilted his head slightly. “Given a six-year-old’s enthusiasm for Christmas presents, I’d estimate two hours.”

“Andy, we can’t thank you enough,” Nathan said, slowly rising from the couch to shake the deputy’s hand.

“Ahh, it wasn’t a big deal. I downloaded the instructions on the way over and the rest was just assembly.”

“Really fast assembly,” Carter noted. “Thanks again.”

“No problem Jack, but I’d best be running. SARAH’s waiting for me.”

“Oh?” Stark made the mistake of asking.

“Yeah,” Andy grinned. “She’s got this really sexy firewall up and she’ s daring me to try and breach it. You know how that goes. Well, I’ll see you later, gentlemen.” He gave a salute and headed out the door.

“Carter,” Stark said slowly. “I always wondered why you agreed to these living arrangements so quickly.”

“Yeah.”  The two men turned to face the Christmas tree and the presents underneath it. “So…what now?”

“Well,” Stark replied as he bent over to pick up a small pile of discarded plastic. “First we clean all this up—and make sure you don’t step on anything again, okay?”

“All right,” Carter agreed. “Then what?”

Stark considered. “Well, let’s face it. It’s too late to go to bed. By the time we get to sleep Jenna will be racing down the stairs screaming at the top of her lungs. So we might as well stay up.” He picked up the plate of cookies left for Santa. “Cookie?”

“Yeah, why not.” Carter grabbed one and held it up as an impromptu toast. “Give me a shot of Jack to dunk it with, though. Merry Christmas, Stark.”

“Merry Christmas, Carter."


End file.
